CUNNINGHAM MUST RESIGN – ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT ENOUGH

14 Jul 2005 // Washington, DC – "Given the ever-lengthening list of Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham’s unethical and potentially criminal acts, it is not sufficient for the Congressman to do nothing more than announce that he will not seek another term," Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said today. "Rep. Cunningham’s conduct is so beyond the pale as to require nothing less than his immediate resignation. His constituents deserve a Member of Congress who can concentrate on the district’s issues, rather than one who will be spending his time focusing on his criminal defense."

Sloan also expressed skepticism about Rep. Cunningham's decision to donate some of the proceeds of the sale of his house to charity, "as a former prosecutor, I can't help but think that the reason Rep. Cunningham is selling his mansion and donating part of the profits to charity is to make himself more sympathetic before a potential sentencing judge."

"Today’s announcement should have no effect on the pending Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service and Department of Defense investigations into Rep. Cunningham and a member of the House of Representatives should file an ethics complaint against him with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct."

CREW is preparing an ethics complaint against Cunningham, which will be released Friday morning.

CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on June 20, 2005 with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and with the Department of Defense to garner any communications between Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) regarding defense contractor MZM, Inc. and the company’s president, Mitchell Wade, from January 1, 2001, to the present.

CREW also filed a complaint on June 20, 2005 with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging serious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by MZM and Wade. CREW filed its complaint in response to a San Diego Union-Tribune article in which three former employees of MZM, Inc. alleged that Wade forced the employees to make contributions to MZM’s political action committee and to specific candidates or risk losing their jobs.

Specifically, CREW’s complaint alleges that MZM and Wade violated the FECA by 1) forcing them to contribute to MZM’s PAC and to specific candidates; 2) by making illegal corporate conduit contributions to the PAC and to candidates.

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. CREW drafted the complaint against Tom DeLay, filed by former Congressman Chris Bell, for which DeLay was admonished last year.

For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman at 202.588.5565/press@citizensforethics.org.